DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
1. Claims 1-2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by Errico et al (USPN 2022/0190585).
Regarding claim 1, Errico discloses a semiconductor device (figure 1), comprising:
a switch element (such as a power switching 12 in figure 1) configured to receive an input signal (such as an input signal received from a driver MSC 14), and to switch on and off according to the input signal (see par. 0027); and
a protection control circuit (a protection control circuit 22, detailed in figures 2-3) configured to receive an operating state signal (such as a detected current signal, see par. 0085) from the switch element (12), and to protect the switch element according to the operating state signal (e.g. the power switch 12 is switched off when a short circuit fault detected, see par. 0039),
the operating state signal including one of a short-circuit pulse (such as a soft short circuit pulse) with a first pulse width (such as 60 microsecond pulse, see par. 0076), which is generated by the switch element in a short-circuit state (a soft short circuit state), or a micro short-circuit pulse (a hard short circuit fault) with a second pulse width shorter than the first pulse width (the hard short circuit fault has a pulse with a duration 2 microseconds which is shorter that the pulse of the soft shot circuit fault), the protection control circuit protecting the switch (12) element upon detecting consecutive occurrences of the micro short-circuit pulse (by counting a number of time that the hard short circuit event occurred, see par. 0048, 0073).
Regarding claim 2, Errico discloses a short-circuit detection circuit (200, 300, see figure 2-3) configured to detect the short-circuit state of the switch element (12) and output a short-circuit detection signal (such as OVC_1 and OVC_2 fault), wherein the protection control circuit detects the consecutive occurrences of the micro short-circuit pulse (see par. 0048).
Allowable Subject Matter
2. Claims 3-11 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
3. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANNY NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-2054. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00AM-4:30PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Monica Lewis can be reached at 571-271-1838. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/DANNY NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2838